AFTER THE BELL: Materials weigh TSX, Facebook stock falls after major outage

It was a red day on Bay Street as the TSX’s modest three-day win streak skidded to a halt.

Just three of the index’s 11 sectors traded higher as Canada’s stock exchange lost 62 points.

Gold erased yesterday’s gains, dragging the materials sector with it.

Barrick Gold, Kinross Gold, and Goldcorp, were all down between 1.6 and 2.3 percent.

Surprisingly, Premium Brand Holdings was among the laggards as its stock fell 4.6 percent, despite the Canadian specialty food manufacturing and distribution company recording record fourth quarter revenue $843.9 million.

This represents a 44.2 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.

Canadian energy stocks were mixed despite oil climbing 24 cents to $58.50 US a barrel.

In New York, the Dow managed to add seven points while the Nasdaq edged 12 points lower.

There were a few components that capped gains on the U.S. markets.

They included disappointing Chinese economic data, sputtering trade talks between the Washington and Beijing, and a reported 6.9 percent dip in new home sales in the U.S. in January.

Facebook was one of the weights on the Nasdaq after the social network suffered a major outage on its core site along with Instagram and WhatsApp.

Facebook’s stock was down 1.8 percent today.

Gold tumbled to below the $1,300 mark, losing $13.60 to $1,295 an ounce while the loonie slipped by 13/100ths of a cent to $0.7500 US.